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Devolution in the Middle East

The unleashing of man’s worst instincts seems to be spreading throughout the Middle East. The takeover by Hamas in Gaza is an ominous sign for the future of the Palestinian state and a sort of hopelessness is evident in the coverage of the increasing civil war there.

Ghassan Hashem, 37, a civil servant, said: “I see
Iraq here. There is no mercy. We are afraid. See
how ferocious this fight was? There is no future
for us.”…

“I don’t know if Hamas has a strategy for the day
after,” said Mkhaimar Abusada, a political
scientist at the Fatah-affiliated Al Azhar
University in Gaza, adding, “There are more
questions than answers.”

There was talk both in Mr. Abbas’s headquarters
and among worried Palestinians in Gaza about
requesting an international force to come to
Gaza.

“This is the beginning of the separation of the
Gaza Strip and the West Bank,” said Mr.
Abusada, referring to the two Palestinian
territories that were eventually supposed to
make up an independent Palestinian state.

“This is the lowest point in our struggle. We
Palestinians are writing the final chapters of our
national enterprise,” he said.

Meanwhile, Iraq is not looking too good either. The aftermath of the Golden Dome bombing is more killing, despite a nationwide clampdown and curfews in major areas. Juan Cole reports “fair numbers” of Iraqis defying the curfews to flee their homes in Baghdad to avoid sectarian reprisals. Strangely, some US coverage seems intent on emphasizing that the situation is better than it was the last time the mosque was bombed.

Around the Muslim world, charges of US complicity in the Samarra mosque bombing are inflaming the international situation. It is a strange irony, as Cole points out, that the conflating of the US with those responsible for the destruction of the Golden Dome is as wild a charge as those leveled originally by Vice President Cheney against Saddam Hussein of collaboration with Osama bin Laden.